Two-day intake clinic brought forward more than 400 new claims
Over two days early last month, hundreds of people arrived at a university athletic centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., many carrying medical files, some toting oxygen packs, others rifling through the work records of their late spouses.
“There were many widows. There were many people who were very, very sick,” said Mike Da Prat, president of the United Steelworkers Local 2251, which represents workers at Algoma Steel Industries.
They came to get help in an occupational disease intake clinic organized by the union on May 7 and 8. On hand were 160 volunteers who sat down with the participants and interviewed them about their work history, their health history and any event or incident that would have resulted in exposure to hazardous material. The union will help those who may have contracted an occupational disease at Algoma Steel Industries file for workers’ compensation at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).
The impetus for the clinic came early this year, when the union learned there had been a high number of deaths among workers and retirees making WSIB claims. It requested a report from the board, which confirmed that impression.
Between Jan. 1, 2001, and Dec. 3, 2007, the board approved 56 claims for occupational diseases from Algoma workers and retirees. Of those, 41 had died. In all, 126 claims were received from Algoma, 64 of which were denied including 11 deaths. Six cases were still pending.
When it saw the numbers, the union got involved in submitting another 167 claims, said Da Prat. “Many widows started coming forward, now that they know there’s an avenue.”
Most of the illnesses he encountered were cancer. Of the 56 WSIB-approved cancer claims, there were 36 cases of lung cancer, nine cases of mesothelioma caused by exposure to asbestos, five gastrointestinal cancers, three bladder cancers and the remaining were other cancers.
Over the two days of screening and intake, clinic volunteers identified another 442 individuals who are sick or who had died from their illness. The two most common types of diseases were chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (57 cases) and coronary artery disease (77 cases), but the majority of participants had cancer of one form or another. These included pancreatic cancer (25), bowel cancer (24), lung cancer (21), prostate cancer (27), skin cancer (17), rectal cancer (13), esophagus cancer (nine), stomach cancer (eight) and throat cancer (seven).
There are 3,500 workers represented by Local 2251 and 8,000 members who have retired, which adds up to a total population of about 11,500.
The data gathered during these clinics will help the union build a database to better understand the relationships between the illnesses and the chemicals and byproducts that people were exposed to at work.
The Algoma steel mill was the first large integrated steel mill in Canada. In an integrated steel mill, raw materials in the form of iron ore and coal are reduced in a blast furnace to liquid iron which is then made into steel. An intermediary product of the process is coke, the emissions of which are considered a carcinogen by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health in Washington, D.C.
Da Prat said there are still a lot of questions around the link between steelwork and the diseases his union members were contracting, and this database is an effort to establish that link.
The clinics are a valuable awareness-raising initiative, said Brenda Stenton, corporate communications manager for Algoma. The diseases seen now have a long latency period, and the causes were “exposures that occurred 20 years and sometimes 30 years ago,” she said.
“We recognized many years ago that there was a marked lack of knowledge of workplace hazards, not just in steel industries but worldwide. Our knowledge has improved greatly since,” said Stenton.
At present, there’s no data collection system that keeps track of the incidence of cancer at the workplace, said John McLaughlin, vice-president of population studies and surveillance at Cancer Care Ontario. Cancer Care Ontario is trying to establish such a database and has submitted for funding in conjunction with the WSIB, a number of unions and the Canadian Cancer Society.
It’s difficult to determine from current available data whether the Algoma Steel work environment is more hazardous than one elsewhere. According to the Algoma Health Unit’s Report on Cancer, which looks at data from 1984 to 1998, the cancer rate in the region was six per cent greater than the average rate for the province as a whole, though the lung cancer rate is 24 per cent higher than the provincial rate for men and 16 per cent higher for women.
Health Canada epidemiologist Michel Camus cautions that the number of approved claims in any workers compensation system “usually underestimates, sometimes seriously,” the number of actual cases of occupational diseases. What data is available would suggest the case here. In any group of 8,000 male retirees in Canada, one would expect at least 150 lung cancers to have occurred from 2001 to 2007, mostly due to smoking. Camus said studies in North America and Europe have reported 50 per cent to 100 per cent more lung cancers than expected among steel workers. Accordingly, one should see an excess of about 75 to 150 lung cancers among Algoma steel workers over seven years.
If the number of 8,000 retirees in the plan is correct and only 36 lung cancer cases were accepted, he said, the discrepancy may be due to workers not claiming compensation, low acceptance rate at the board — or possibly better past conditions in the Algoma plant than in other steel plants.
Da Prat stressed that what’s at stake is more than just compensation for past practices.
“A greater motive here is prevention. I see new hires coming into the workplace the same way I did — like they’re indestructible. We ignored the hazards because we didn’t see them” said Da Prat. “Then by the time we got to middle age, when we’re smart and we realize that we have to be concerned, it’s too late.”
“There were many widows. There were many people who were very, very sick,” said Mike Da Prat, president of the United Steelworkers Local 2251, which represents workers at Algoma Steel Industries.
They came to get help in an occupational disease intake clinic organized by the union on May 7 and 8. On hand were 160 volunteers who sat down with the participants and interviewed them about their work history, their health history and any event or incident that would have resulted in exposure to hazardous material. The union will help those who may have contracted an occupational disease at Algoma Steel Industries file for workers’ compensation at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).
The impetus for the clinic came early this year, when the union learned there had been a high number of deaths among workers and retirees making WSIB claims. It requested a report from the board, which confirmed that impression.
Between Jan. 1, 2001, and Dec. 3, 2007, the board approved 56 claims for occupational diseases from Algoma workers and retirees. Of those, 41 had died. In all, 126 claims were received from Algoma, 64 of which were denied including 11 deaths. Six cases were still pending.
When it saw the numbers, the union got involved in submitting another 167 claims, said Da Prat. “Many widows started coming forward, now that they know there’s an avenue.”
Most of the illnesses he encountered were cancer. Of the 56 WSIB-approved cancer claims, there were 36 cases of lung cancer, nine cases of mesothelioma caused by exposure to asbestos, five gastrointestinal cancers, three bladder cancers and the remaining were other cancers.
Over the two days of screening and intake, clinic volunteers identified another 442 individuals who are sick or who had died from their illness. The two most common types of diseases were chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (57 cases) and coronary artery disease (77 cases), but the majority of participants had cancer of one form or another. These included pancreatic cancer (25), bowel cancer (24), lung cancer (21), prostate cancer (27), skin cancer (17), rectal cancer (13), esophagus cancer (nine), stomach cancer (eight) and throat cancer (seven).
There are 3,500 workers represented by Local 2251 and 8,000 members who have retired, which adds up to a total population of about 11,500.
The data gathered during these clinics will help the union build a database to better understand the relationships between the illnesses and the chemicals and byproducts that people were exposed to at work.
The Algoma steel mill was the first large integrated steel mill in Canada. In an integrated steel mill, raw materials in the form of iron ore and coal are reduced in a blast furnace to liquid iron which is then made into steel. An intermediary product of the process is coke, the emissions of which are considered a carcinogen by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health in Washington, D.C.
Da Prat said there are still a lot of questions around the link between steelwork and the diseases his union members were contracting, and this database is an effort to establish that link.
The clinics are a valuable awareness-raising initiative, said Brenda Stenton, corporate communications manager for Algoma. The diseases seen now have a long latency period, and the causes were “exposures that occurred 20 years and sometimes 30 years ago,” she said.
“We recognized many years ago that there was a marked lack of knowledge of workplace hazards, not just in steel industries but worldwide. Our knowledge has improved greatly since,” said Stenton.
At present, there’s no data collection system that keeps track of the incidence of cancer at the workplace, said John McLaughlin, vice-president of population studies and surveillance at Cancer Care Ontario. Cancer Care Ontario is trying to establish such a database and has submitted for funding in conjunction with the WSIB, a number of unions and the Canadian Cancer Society.
It’s difficult to determine from current available data whether the Algoma Steel work environment is more hazardous than one elsewhere. According to the Algoma Health Unit’s Report on Cancer, which looks at data from 1984 to 1998, the cancer rate in the region was six per cent greater than the average rate for the province as a whole, though the lung cancer rate is 24 per cent higher than the provincial rate for men and 16 per cent higher for women.
Health Canada epidemiologist Michel Camus cautions that the number of approved claims in any workers compensation system “usually underestimates, sometimes seriously,” the number of actual cases of occupational diseases. What data is available would suggest the case here. In any group of 8,000 male retirees in Canada, one would expect at least 150 lung cancers to have occurred from 2001 to 2007, mostly due to smoking. Camus said studies in North America and Europe have reported 50 per cent to 100 per cent more lung cancers than expected among steel workers. Accordingly, one should see an excess of about 75 to 150 lung cancers among Algoma steel workers over seven years.
If the number of 8,000 retirees in the plan is correct and only 36 lung cancer cases were accepted, he said, the discrepancy may be due to workers not claiming compensation, low acceptance rate at the board — or possibly better past conditions in the Algoma plant than in other steel plants.
Da Prat stressed that what’s at stake is more than just compensation for past practices.
“A greater motive here is prevention. I see new hires coming into the workplace the same way I did — like they’re indestructible. We ignored the hazards because we didn’t see them” said Da Prat. “Then by the time we got to middle age, when we’re smart and we realize that we have to be concerned, it’s too late.”
